Leonhartus Albertus und sein Gedicht über die Glasherstellung

Leonhartus Albertus, a Czech humanist of the era of the emperor Rudolph II., wrote a poem on glass-making at the beginning of the 17th century. This poem consisting of 50 elegiac distichs is based on one sermon from the Bergpostill by Johann Mathesius, the famous preacher from Joachimstal. In style of mannerism, the poet compares fragility of glass with that of human life. Besides the very topic which is really rare in the Latin humanist poetry of the Czech lands, and is more characteristic for the genre of sermons and epitaphs, also the fact is of interest that the poem was published in two parallel languages – Latin and German, probably with regard to the patron of the author Joseph Gantz, the war treasurer in Upper Hungary, to whom the poem is dedicated. Both texts are edited, commented and accompanied by the modern German and Czech translation.